


Following the Routine

by round_robin



Category: Being Human (UK)
Genre: Bad Hal, Gen, Hal's routine, Routine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-16 08:08:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1338211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/round_robin/pseuds/round_robin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hal woke up at precisely five thirty every morning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Following the Routine

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished Being Human UK and fell in love with Hal and his routines. It's stupidly adorable for a five hundred year-old vampire and I couldn't resist.
> 
> Not beta'd or Brit picked, and my S key sticks. If anyone finds any typos, please include them with your comment and they'll be seen to. And enjoy. :)

Hal woke up at precisely five thirty every morning. He neatly folded the sheets back and got out of bed. Hospital corners, pillows topped with the decorative trim of his sheets, blankets folded perfectly, every wrinkle and crease gone.

He donned his workout clothes, usually a pair a shorts and a t-shirt, and began his morning yoga. He did calisthenics from noon to one, but the yoga was best when he first woke up. It helped him focus. Helped him manage.

Once he was warmed up, he began with a simple mountain pose, then transitioned into warrior pose. Next it was back to mountain and into eagle. Mountain, into warrior. Three repetitions of the sequence. A back bend to finish it all off. The repetitive movements calmed him as they push the burn in his muscles to new heights. He focused on the pain and the stretch. Focusing on his pain made it so he didn’t have to think about the pain he had caused in others.

_Good morning, Hal._

He didn’t pay attention to the voice. He wasn’t that man anymore, not that monster. He held his last pose for ten breaths before disengaging. He took his yoga mat to the shower to clean it right away and then stepped into the shower himself to rinse off the sweat of his work out.

After he dressed (pants then trousers, shirt, socks, shoes) he took inventory of his clothing, separating his whites and coloureds for laundry later and double checked his shirts and trousers to see if any were in need of ironing.

Seven o’clock exactly, he headed downstairs and began his inventory of the larder. They were almost out of cereal and would need to go shopping for that and a few other things. Probably tomorrow. Tomorrow was his day off and the more chores he could find to fill the time without work, the better. He set out a clean bowl and spoon for Tom and placed the cereal by it. Tom would be down soon.

While Tom was eating, Hal went back upstairs and dressed for work. Taking off and putting away his regular clothing added another task. He folded everything away neatly and took out his work clothes.

_Do you think it’s going to be today?_

Hal’s fingers stopped halfway up the row of buttons. This was only a momentary setback and he soon shook it off. He finished buttoning and pulled on his blazer.

He was in before Tom, which was unfortunate. Without Tom’s happy morning chatter, he had to think of something else to occupy his thoughts. He made the walk to the hotel by himself, concentrating on his duty of relieving the night manager.

_Today seems like a fine day. Perfect, actually. With a hotel full of people, I can find any number of reasons to push you over._

When Hal got in, he greeted Andy, the night manager. Andy nodded and sleepily gathered his things. He gave Hal a wave as he headed out. Hal started cleaning up the workstation, Andy wasn’t as slovenly as most people, but the front desk was never really up to his standards. He straightened pens in order of colour, organized the paper clips and removed the paper shreds from the top of the note pad.

_Do you remember the woman in thirty-two? She would make a fine starter. All that smooth skin, she reminded me of Rebecca. You remember Rebecca._

Hal breathed a small sigh of relief. _He_ always knew not to mention the names of Hal’s victims, it always had the opposite effect. The monster wasn’t strong enough today and he could last. He pulled out the hotel’s log book and opened to a random page, the first room number on that page was twenty-seven.

Molly, Claire, Veronica, Elizabeth, Martin, Betty, John, Anne, Katherine, Mary. He started going through all the names of those he killed in 1927. Never his favourite exercise, but it was always enough to keep the monster at bay. The monster wanted blood, but not the kind Hal’s memories supplied. These were memories of guilt, not of conquest, self hatred, not glory. For the next hour, Hal let every face of every one he’d killed that year slide through his mind. The monster was silent.

Twelve o’clock was his lunch break. Instead of going home, he went up to one of the empty rooms and did his calisthenics there. One hundred press-ups, one hundred sit-ups, ten planks at thirty seconds each with a fifteen second rest in between.

He lowered himself to the carpet and counted. Eighty.

_You can’t shut me out._

Eighty-one.

_You know how this works._

Eighty-two.

_You know it’s going to happen. One day, I’ll wake up in your toned and able body._

Eighty-three.

_I’ll wake up in your world, in a body made strong by your exertions and efforts to keep me away._

Eighty-four.

_You won’t be able to stop me. And neither will they. I’ll bleed your friends dry._

Eighty-five, eighty-six. Yes, that was the key. Ignore it long enough and he got bored.

After his lunch hour, Hal returned to the counter. He showered up in the room and cleaned the bathroom. It wasn’t quite against the rules for employees to use the available facilities at the hotel, but Hal would rather no one knew he’d been there.

Down at the desk, Tom smiled at him. It was slow, so they talked for a bit. Alex had some new things on her list of unfinished business that she wanted to try out. Hal agreed to help, as long as it didn’t involve any more S Club.

After speaking with Tom, Hal went to the kitchen to organize the flatware. He lined them all up on the stainless steel counter top and inspected each piece for water spots, left over crumbs, or any tarnish. Those that he found were set aside to load into the dishwasher later. He put away each fork, knife and spoon as carefully and methodically as he’d taken them out.

By the end of his shift, he’d nearly forgotten about the voice. It didn’t come back for the rest of the day and Hal was glad for it. He’d bought himself more time. He could last longer.

He and Tom walked home together. Hal didn’t say much, but Tom always had a lot to talk about. He said he was going to go see Allison. They’d been writing letters and she said she wanted him to visit. He was very excited and wanted Hal to give him tips on what to wear and what to bring. Girls liked flowers, right? Hal smiled and told Tom yes, women liked flowers.

At home, Hal hoovered the sitting room and the kitchen. He found a pocket of vampire dust he’d missed during their last home invasion and quickly cleaned it up. He didn’t need those memories.

_The killing did feel good. I suppose if you’re not going to kill humans, vampires will have to do. For now._

Hal shut his eyes. He started counting down from ten thousand as he cleaned the bathroom tiles with a toothbrush. He always used a fresh one for cleaning, and it looked like this one was wearing out a bit. He’d add that to the grocery list.

Finished with his chores, he sat down to supper with Tom and Alex. Though Alex couldn’t eat, and sometimes she stared longingly at whatever monstrosity Tom had on his plate, she did enjoy mealtimes with them. She said it made her feel more human, which was the point of everything they did.

_I remember meals like this. Beautiful women all around the table, blood dripping from their throats. I would take as many as ten in a night._

Hal shut his eyes as he listened to Alex’s story of her day while they were at work. He talked to them about his shopping list and said they should add anything to it tonight. They knew if they didn’t, Hal would still make return trip to the store to get whatever they needed or wanted, he was a good friend like that. He hung on to that feeling. Once, when Alex asked him for the type of crisps her brothers always ate, Hal went right out and got them. They both knew she couldn’t eat them, but seeing the familiar package in the larder made things a bit better for her. He wanted to make her happy.

After dinner, after Hal cleaned up the plates and scrubbed everything clean, they sat down together on the sofa and watched Antiques Roadshow. He was better at the pricing game than they were, but he always threw a few rounds. When a Louis XVI clock came up (the exact one he used to own) he couldn’t resist stating the exact price. They booed and hissed when he was correct and a new rule was made: if it was something he owned, he had to forfeit that round. With a smug smile and a feeling of accomplishment, Hal agreed.

He brushed his teeth before bed. Making sure to get exactly twenty strokes on the front and back of each tooth. He stuck his head out the door to make sure no one was there before letting his fangs show and brushing those as well.

He pulled back the covers and climbed into bed.

He usually had an idea of when the change was coming. It was always there, whispering to him and creeping up in his thoughts, but the signs of it nearing were much more obvious to him. He knew, when the time came, he should ask for help. He would ask for help. Right now, he had it under control. His routines were working, they were keeping him grounded. Everything was fine. He closed his eyes and thought about sleep.

_Alone at last._

The routine only went so far.

  
The End

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have much knowledge of yoga, nothing past beginner. I tried looking up "advanced" poses but each had three different names. I remember eagle pose being quite a bitch, so I used that.


End file.
